(Eagle News) — To ensure prosperity, President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday proposed that businesses adopt an “inclusive business model” and that policies be adopted that will allow developing countries to “get a larger share of the global value chain.”
The President made the suggestions in a speech before businessmen during the Association of Pacific Economic Cooperation chief executive officers summit session 7 in Da Nang, Vietnam.
Duterte was one of the keynote speakers in his capacity as this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“As you are also big businesses, you are in a unique position to effect change to the extent that you can involve as many (micro, small, medium enterprises) in your own supply chain…in your own country and retail operations,” Duterte told the businessmen.
According to the President, if this is done, not only do the big businesses “integrate (the MSMEs) in the way (they) do business” but they also “unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of our peoples” and “address.. the pessimism and suspicion of those who do not feel the benefits of free trade and globalizations.”
“As leaders in our respective fields, we must ensure that globalization does not lead to wealth generation but equitable wealth distribution as well. To unleash the potential of globalization, we must create an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity for growth,” he said, noting that these could be achieved through “promotion of competition, complementation, and cooperation among businesses.”
Duterte said the adoption of policies that are economically favorable to developing countries was also important.
He said this could be “accomplished by providing greater market access for the citizens and investing in education, training and other capacity building opportunities.
“We would like to work with you not only to pursue growth, through regional economic integration but also to forge a more humane world characterized by shared peace and optimism in the future,” the ASEAN chair said.
He noted that APEC “will only be relevant and attuned to the economic changing landscape” if “prosperity is shared by all.”
“Inclusivity,” for its part, he said, “requires that more developing economies provide market access to less developed ones the same way we encourage big businesses to allow MSMEs to be part of their business model.”
“The essence of true cooperation is that all partners and everyone contributes. Charity is not what less developed economies and small businesses need. What they need are greater market access and the opportunities to participate in growth and development. Unless we adopt this mindset, inclusive growth will continue to elude us,” he said.